WATERLOO — Living one’s faith through compassion for others and their troubles is an expression of human kindness evident among both the faithful and the unobservant.

But living one’s values and standing up for what is just when others turn the other way is for some a true test of faith.

The community at the Waterloo Mennonite Brethren Church say they are walking in the footsteps of Jesus by supporting members of a Cambridge family who were deported to Colombia and Costa Rica more than three months ago.

“God is interested in restoring and redeeming what has been destroyed. We are called as his people to participate and get involved,’’ said Pastor Karen West, one of nine pastors at the Lexington Road church.

Just as Jesus rallied around the marginalized and questioned society, West and others at the evangelical Christian church are asking why a couple who had full-time jobs and actively participated in their faith community were forced to leave Canada, the country they called home since 2007.

John Fernandez, 30, Magaly Ramirez, 26, and their daughters Janally, 6, and Katherine, 5, were denied refugee status and deported on Feb. 5. Fernandez was sent to his native Colombia, while Ramirez and her U.S.-born children went to Costa Rica.

“This family can bring you to tears. To watch them get on two separate planes with two little girls. When you see that, there is something wrong,’’ said West, who received a painful text from Fernandez sitting alone at the Toronto airport after he said goodbye to his wife and children.

West and other church members say the immigration process is unfair. Canada and Immigration Canada denied the family’s application for refugee status in January claiming they had nothing to fear by returning to their native lands.

A last-ditch effort to delay the deportation order was brought before a Toronto judge two days before the family left, but the request was denied. The legal fees were paid by the church community. Members of Immanuel Pentecostal Church have also supported the family financially.

Another application based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds has yet to be decided but that could take months, said Michelle Knowles, director of global outreach at the church.

Eunice Valenzuela, executive director of the Kitchener-based Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support, says in her 20 years of refugee work she has never heard of a case in which an application on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was accepted and a family was able to return to Canada.

Valenzuela said the deportation order should have been delayed for at least two months to allow Fernandez to apply for a visa for Costa Rica.

“To split the family is inhumane,’’ she said.

Toronto immigration and refugee lawyer Richard Wazana, who represented the family at the appeal, said it’s “fundamentally unfair” to deport families before all avenues are heard.

Fernandez left his native Colombia when he was 13 with his parents and came to the United States. Ramirez and her parents left Costa Rica in 2001, also for a better life in the U.S.

The pair would meet, marry and four years ago came to Canada as refugee claimants in an attempt to become Canadian citizens.

Fernandez worked in technical sales at Beta Die Casting in Cambridge and his wife with Housekeepers of Canada.

Jack Iwanski, co-owner of Beta Die Casting, said Fernandez was a valuable employee with mechanical expertise and good phone etiquette with customers. And as a Spanish speaker, he was able to garner contracts with South American customers.

“He filled such a niche. I haven’t been able to find anyone to replace him,’’ said Iwanski, who along with church members was present in a Toronto courtroom in a last-ditch effort to keep the family in Canada.

Iwanski said he’s frustrated with the Canadian immigration process and said it’s unfair that Fernandez and Ramirez “who weren’t burdens on society in any way” couldn’t stay.

“They were just trying to make an honest day’s wage,’’ he said. “If he came back, I would have work for him on the spot.’’

Fernandez and Ramirez were loyal church attendees. John played the bass guitar on one of the church’s worship teams and the girls participated in the children’s programming.

For West and the others, the plight of the family became evident when Fernandez sent a heartfelt letter to another pastor at the church telling him that the family was denied refugee status and had a deportation date of Feb. 5.

“With all my heart I’m destroyed. I can’t even protect my family because we will be in two different countries without being able to be together for such a long time. How will we get through this? Pray for us please,’’ Fernandez wrote.

West read the letter at a Sunday service and many were moved to tears. A petition with nearly 500 signatures asking the federal government to fast track an application on humanitarian and compassionate grounds failed.

“It was a 50/50 chance. Those are tough odds, but looking at separating a family … how do you not take a chance. You have to,’’ said Knowles, the global outreach director.

But active participation could come at a cost for the church, a registered non-profit charity. The Canadian Charity Law suggests avoiding “political” activity and for some, the church’s efforts to help the family return to Canada could be considered political activity.

That could mean losing charitable status and the ability to issue tax receipts, threatening the existence of the church. It’s a weighty issue the church board will have to wrestle with.

“We are here to worship God. We want to follow in his ways,’’ said West. “How do you get the message of Jesus into a society that is structured politically and economically?’’

For Hart Wiens, a longtime member of Waterloo Mennonite Brethren, says his faith in Jesus is endless and he will continue to support Fernandez and Ramirez in their desire to return to Canada.

“When God presents us with an opportunity, we must take those opportunities and engage ourselves,’’ Wiens said.

“I think God can touch people’s hearts and use events that come into people’s lives to see situations differently … leading us to go outside of normal expectations or responsibilities,’’ he said.

Wiens, who was born in Paraguay and came to Canada as a toddler, said his parents fled Russia and entered China as refugees.

He said he was moved to action after his daughter, Andrea Moore, a mother of three young children, become motivated to help the family by starting a petition.

“I just can’t imagine going to the country of my birth with my three children and trying to survive,’’ Moore said through tears. She was born in the Philippines and raised there while her father worked for Wycliffe Bible Translators for 20 years.

But Moore said her faith keeps her strong and hopeful that through life’s struggles, God is present.

“We have faith in God, that’s why we are fighting. Because I have faith, God can use me to find a way,’’ she said.

For now, Fernandez is in Bogota, Colombia. He was able to visit his wife and daughters in Costa Rica on a temporary visitor’s permit but has since returned to Colombia.

While in Costa Rica, Fernandez found an apartment for his family and with the help of the church paid first and last month’s rent. He hopes to apply for permanent residency in Costa Rica so he can be with his family.

“Our primary goal is to see them reunited wherever and then make sure they have a way of sustaining life for themselves,’’ West said.

But West said the church will continue to track the humanitarian and compassionate application and ensure the family’s voice is heard.

And in the midst of the struggle, West said she will turn to God.

“When we look to God, we find hidden treasures. He is there in rich, rich ways,’’ she said.